UP Legislative Council Elections: 3 more BJP candidates set to get elected unopposed as MLC

BJP candidates in Budaun, Aligarh and Mirzapur are set to enter the Uttar Pradesh Legislative council unopposed due to the withdrawal or rejection of nomination papers of Opposition nominees.

The development came close on the heels of the rejection of nomination papers of two Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates on Tuesday. A candidate of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, an ally of the SP, had also withdrawn his papers.

With the Wednesday's development, now six BJP candidates are set to get elected unopposed to the upper house of the state legislature.

The SP had on Tuesday demanded that the nomination process for the election to the state Legislative Council be started again, with party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleging "either the nomination forms will not be allowed to be filed or the election or its results will be influenced".

In Budaun, Returning Officer and District Magistrate Deepa Ranjan said SP candidate Sinod Kumar Shakya withdrew his papers.

"We now have only one candidate Bagish Pathak for the MLC post. He will be elected without polling. The state election commission has been informed about the development," he said.

The BJP candidate from the Aligarh-Hathras seat, Rishipal Singh, is also set to be declared elected unopposed after the nomination papers of the lone opposition candidate, Jaswant Singh Yadav of the SP, were rejected on technical grounds.

District Magistrate Selva Kumari said the nomination was rejected since he could not produce one of the signatories on his nomination paper.

He had been given time till Wednesday to produce the signatory but failed to do so, she said.

The SP candidate's lawyer had alleged the rejection of the nomination papers was on flimsy grounds and a denial of his client's democratic right.

The district president of the SP, Grish Yadav, alleged the entire episode has been orchestrated to ensure the victory of the ruling party candidate.

In Mirzapur, Samajwadi Party candidate Ramesh has withdrawn his nomination, clearing way for the BJP candidate.

Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Shiv Pratap Shukla said, "Samajwadi Party candidate Ramesh has withdrawn his nomination even though his papers were found to be correct."

Nomination papers of Independent candidate Prem Chand were rejected earlier over discrepancies.

In Lakhimpur, nomination of Samajwadi Party candidate Anurag Verma was cancelled on Wednesday.

In his written decision, Returning Officer SK Singh said SP candidate Anurag Verma got his affidavit notarised by a notary advocate whose licence has expired and was not renewed, which was in violation of the Notary Act, 1952.

He said Anurag Verma failed to remove the objections within stipulated time, following which his three sets of nomination papers were rejected.

Verma termed the decision as 'partial' and said he will approach the court against it.

The Returning Officer also rejected the nomination papers of independent candidate Navneet Shukla following an incomplete affidavit filed by him.

After the cancellation of the nominations, only two candidates-- Anoop Kumar Gupta from the BJP and Independent Narsingh-- are left in the fray for the Kheri local authority constituency.

After the high-octane Assembly polls in the politically crucial state, all eyes are set on the outcome of the Legislative Council polls on 36 seats.

After the resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from the council, the BJP is now left with 34 MLCs.

The SP has 17 MLCs while the BSP has four legislators in the upper House.

The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD party have one member each at present.

The teachers' group has two MLCs while there are two Independents.

One seat fell vacant following the death of Leader of the Opposition Ahmad Hassan of Samajwadi Party after a prolonged illness.